Two mining leases were left unregistered by the District Registrar in Tura, allowing the lessees to evade stamp duty and registration fees amounting to Rs 32.90 lakh, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report for the 2022-23 financial year.
According to the CAG report, the case was reported to the District Registrar in Tura in November 2022 and intimated to the state government in July 2023.
The report stated that after Diwan B Marak’s passing (January 28, 2020), his son Kember B Marak, applied to transfer the mining lease to his name but this transfer remained pending due to an incomplete application form. As a result, the mining lease is currently in de facto suspension.
In respect of Manoranjan Sangma, the lease was transferred to Jenmi Marak on November 16, 2022 post his death on October 31, 2020.
Despite this, the mining lease has not been registered; hence, a show-cause notice was issued to Jenmi Marak on September 25, 2023.
According to the CAG, from the reply it is understood that the District Registrar had failed to take any suo moto action on the intimation letter dated October 9 2020.
It was only when the lapse was pointed out in an audit that the District Registrar moved for immediate suspension of the two mining leases because they had not been registered.
Additionally, replies received from the Forests and Environment Department in February 2024 and the Excise, Registration, Taxation & Stamps Department in April 2024, confirmed the facts as stated by DFO, Tura in the September 2020 reply.
The reply from the Forests & Environment Department also stated that due to non-finalisation of the transfer of the mining lease to Kember B Marak and non-registration of mining lease by Jenmi Marak despite successful transfer of mining lease, in both cases, no mining activities have been conducted and no lifting orders or transport challans have been issued.
“Reply of the Department is not tenable. From the records of the two leaseholders such as monthly reports, royalty disbursements and transport challans issued in the name of Diwan B Marak and Manoranjan Sangma, it was evident that the leaseholders were operating the mines without lease registration and payment of stamp duty in contravention of Rule 21 of MMMCR, 2016 and Section 17 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908,” the CAG report stated.
The auditors also observed that following the demise of the primary lease holders, transport challans were still issued to both of them. Further, monthly returns were furnished in the name of Manoranjan Sangma and royalty disbursements were made in the name of Diwan B Marak, in spite of the leases remaining unregistered.
